CAMPAIGNERS have launched a petition calling for a fatal accident inquiry to be held into the mysterious death of SNP activist and campaigner Willie McRae.
The death of the lawyer on April 6 1985, was officially ruled as suicide - but many believe he was murdered with rumours of involvement by state security services.
Now a group of campaigners has launched an online petition ahead of the 30th anniversary of his death, urging Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland to instigate a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Campaign spokesman Mark MacNicol, who last year produced the play 3000 Trees about the case, said the intention was to show there was serious public concern about the death of McRae, which is required as part of the criteria for holding an FAI.
"It is unrealistic for us to expect an FAI would actually find out who killed Willie McRae," he said: "But a satisfactory result would be that an FAI overturns the suicide verdict and replaces it with a verdict of unlawful death."
After leaving Glasgow to drive to his holiday home in Dornie McRae was found badly injured in his crashed car on a remote spot in Wester Ross. He died the next day. Medical staff found a gunshot wound behind his right ear and police later recovered a weapon, leading to the verdict of suicide.
However the petition, which will be launched on campaigning website 38degrees.org.uk today, states there are sufficient questions to warrant a "long overdue FAI" into McRae's death.
MacNicol said there are number of serious allegations that require thorough investigation, such as McRae - who was a well known anti-nuclear campaigner - being under "highly aggressive" surveillance by Special Branch, which has led to an inquiry being "avoided by multiple Lord Advocates since 1985".
The petition also outlines concerns which have been raised about other aspects of the case, such as the gun with which McRae was said to have shot himself being found a distance away from his vehicle, according to one of the first witnesses on the scene. It is also said McRae left Glasgow with briefcases which were missing from the car when he was found.
One of those who does accept the official version of events is McRae's younger brother, Dr Fergus McRae, who recently spoke out against demands for a fresh inquiry, saying he was "positive" there had been no murder.
MacNicol expressed sympathy to him, but said there was a "bigger picture" which meant it was important that McRae's death was investigated, with the official verdict of suicide making a "mockery" of the Scottish justice system.
He also said the campaign group would investigate other action - such as judicial review - if the petition was rejected by the Lord Advocate.
A Crown Office spokesman said: "Crown Counsel are satisfied with the extensive investigations into the death of William McRae and have instructed that an FAI will not be held into the circumstances of Mr McRae's death."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article